Leaving a Path…

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” – Anatole France

I made some aesthetic changes to Leaving a Path’s look recently. I got to thinking the other day about the path I’m leaving and how that’s evolving. I used to think about the road, the racing, and the lessons I’d learn in that kind of race training. Training that involved the mileage logged running somewhere. I loved the analogy that road and trail lessons always brought to mind; I still do. It’s begun to feel reactive though, a kind of learning that comes after something has already happened, as opposed to learning that is born in trying to create something instead. It’s looking back over what’s already been done.

I’m done looking back.

I’m looking forward these days. The past is something that is a teacher I’ve always respected, but I’m making changes so that what is ahead of me is better, that I become better with purpose. I’m realizing that there is so much I haven’t experienced yet, so much waiting for me, so much for me to make happen.

My training is happening in much the same parallel as I’ve moved more off the road spending more time in the CrossFit box instead of on the trail. And in the box, there is an alternative analogy for a path: the barbell path. As opposed to blazing a new trail, and learning on the run, there is something very deliberate about the path of the barbell. It’s a path you must create. As opposed to you finding a path unknown, with the barbell you must replicate a path that’s already predetermined as the most efficient. A straight line. It’s the body that must move around the bar. And that is a different kind of lesson to learn. One that is disciplined. One that takes focused practice. One that is precise.

So that path is a newer one for me and one I’m perfecting… one that’s perfecting me.